Connecting Christ - Stumbling Block - You Me or Jesus

Well, at least I'm consistently inconsistent with these posts. This most recent delay in blogging was due to yet another hospital stay, the third time in 3 months, followed by a much-needed vacation. But hopefully, I'll be able to start being less inconsistent in my inconsistency and more consistent with Connecting Christ. Prayerfully there won't be any more stumbling blocks to blogging through this excellent book.

I was reminded recently of how often we erect stumbling blocks to the Gospel in our American-Christian culture when I taught a workshop on diaspora mission recently. One of the participants spoke of how difficult she thought it was to reach internationals in her community. Because to her perceived difficulty, she didn't reach out like she wanted to. What kept her from reaching out? Her own thinking and fear -- not an uncommon response.

That same week, I also met with a church planting couple from Nagaland, the smallest provision in Inda. They are here in DFW for 4 years and have planted 14 house churches among Bhutanese, Nepalese and India diaspora people. I was convicted by their statement of how "simple" it was for them to start these churches. Nika, the husband, said to me "you just have to go" and shared how they had driven an hour to meet with a new church plant in a refugee community in Dallas. That doesn't seem like a very large price to pay but I needed to ask myself, "am I willing to drive an hour to share the Gospel?" I doubt I am alone in being so culturally acclimated to the path of least resistant. I mean isn't it sufficient to attract these diaspora people to our beautiful churches? Shouldn't they want to come to church and enjoy our worship services?

Then, I had lunch with a pastor friend who shared about his new marriage ministry. What he told me was astounding. At his first marriage conference, two Imams attended because they had a need to understand marriage in America. It would never have occurred to me that Muslims would seek out marriage ministry from Christians. There is that wall of culture that separates us, isn't there? But these Muslim leaders did and bridges were built for connecting Christ. What would keep us from thinking that Muslims-Americans didn't have the same need for strengthening their marriages as Christian-Americans? Just our own thinking.

To this point, I am also reading Dr. Bob Roberts, Jr. new book - "Bold as Love - What can happen when we see people the way God does." Bob quotes from a survey called "Global Survey of Evangelical Protestant Leaders" that 65% of Christian leaders have a negative view of Buddhists and Hindus, 67% have a negativ views of Muslims, 70% have a negative views of atheists. Bob asks an important question: "How can we view any religion or people group negatively when we've been called to love them all and share the good news of Jesus with them?"

Do we erect stumbling blocks to the Gospel in our American-Christian culture that prevent people from connecting with Christ? You bet we do, all kinds of stumbling blocks, but we have no right to be a stumbling block to people who need to know Jesus.We need to repent, change our thinking, and align it with what we know is true. When we place our own thinking in front of our commission to "go" and "love our neighbors" we keep people from stumbling over Jesus as they must.

If we are going to connect people to Christ we must not erect stumbling blocks that keep them from  the Jesus we say lives in us. In his 3rd Chapter, Dr. Metzger notes that the Apostle Paul speaks of Jesus as a stumbling block in 1 Corinthians 1:22-25. Metzger concludes Christ and Christ's alone is the stumbling block. We are not and we need to remove any stumbling blocks, including the ones in our own thinking, to embrace our diaspora people - except one - Jesus!

Contrary to what one may think of healthy relationships. a relational apologetic model does not entail rejection of the ideas that Jesus is a stumbling block.

Moreover, any such idea in our thinking, any other picture of Jesus that diminishes and dismantles the central place of Jesus as a stumbling block, any idea of a tamed lion to make Christ acceptable to the "unsaved" is unBiblical. There is no place for a politically correct Jesus since Christ is all. Metzger writes:

"Jesus is the crucified God. As such he is  a stumbling block and scandalous to those imprisoned by the world system, the flesh and the devil...Jesus is not a power of positive thinking therapist, a Santa-like figure with a bag of toys, or a bobble-head doll that sits on the dashboard as a good luck charm."

Jesus is Lord and God! He has the right to call us to account. He will judge the living and the dead. As such we must point people to the cross because it was there that he finished his work and his love was made evident for the whole world. Metzger goes on:

"Religious and secular types alike are often repulsed by the cross, but the cross is the very symbol of God's holy love. The cross demonstrates that God does not hold our sins against us or wall himself off from us. The cross reveals God's open heart toward us, as the God of justice has determined to be judged in our place, opening the door for us to enter into his presence as his people."

Rather than seeking to judge and condemn us, the judge has undergone our judgment in place of us....

Now note this well...

"...the Father has not entrusted judgment to us; God has not made you God. And yet we so often want to take the place of God. In our idolatry and self-righteousness, we set stumbling blocks in front of people that keep them from stumbling over Jesus and falling into his arms. Self-righteousness and self-interest birthed in self-love are our biggest hurdles in bearing witness to Jesus."

We need to consider how "UnChristian" our attitudes, as American-Christians, have been toward many others of different faiths and cultures to see how true it is that we keep people from Jesus by replacing him as the lone stumbling block. There are some who are starting to realize that change is necessary and needs to begin in the household of God, not out in the world. Before leaving for vacation, I had two interesting conversations, one with the author of this book and another with David Watson who pioneered Church Planting Movements in South Asia and now leaders a ministry called CityTeams. Both understand the need to tear down the erected stumbling blocks put there by how we encounter the world all around us

We must ask ourselves what our purpose is? Is it that the unsaved world knows how we think about  social or geo-politicals issues of our day? Then all they might see is us and our attitudes towards them. Or is it that they see Jesus? Is our purpose that we share the Romans Road or Four Spiritual Laws with them? Or that they come to know the Christ who lives in us? I would put it to you, based on the conversation I had with both Paul and David, it is the later. If so, then we need to consider how we are keeping people from seeing Jesus, tripping them up, and keeping them from stumbling over his holy love. Only then will people connect with Christ.

It may not be easy to live that "Christ is all" life but Bob Roberts tells us that, "loving others isn't something we do when we agree with them, or when they like us, or even when we like them. Loving others was made for when it's hard, scary, and near impossible." My Nagaland friends are living examples that sharing the life of Christ is simple, which doesn't mean easy. We must rethink how we can let our light so shine before men that they see Jesus and not hide behind our stumbling blocks, whatever they may be. Only then can we really embrace the nations among us.

I've only scratched the surface of this 3rd Chapter so we'll continue the chapter in the next post, which hopefully will be more timely than this one. May God abundantly bless you as you faithfully serve him today.

 

Connecting Christ - What are we Making an Apology For? Chapter 2

So we're blogging through "Connecting Christ - How to discuss Jesus in a World of diverse paths" by Dr. Paul Louis Metzger.  We are in Part 1 entitled "A Relational-Incarnational Approach." In Chapter 1, Dr. Metzger begins to answer the question "What is a Relational-Incarnational Approach" and compares it to what he calls the "Worldview" and "Market-Driven" approaches which he says haven't produced the results we would want. Therefore we are called to rethink our approach and I'm all for rethinking and refocusing how we present Jesus to the world. In Chapter 2, the Prof is answering the question of what we are making an apology for to refocus our thinking on how we need to discuss Jesus with others.

There are some apologies that are easy to make, others that are difficult but one that is absolutely necessary. First, I want to apologize for not keeping with my previously stated blogging rhythm and so quickly at that. Now that was easy. I had a very full week that brought me in touch with some really good stuff. This past week, the law of unintended consequences, especially how they relate to addressing major social ills of our world, was a major topic of discussion.  There is much that Christians need to make an apology for. Apologizing for some of the things we have done as Christians is necessary but may not be easy. Dr. Metzger turns to this subject in Chapter 4 of Connecting Christ. This chapter isn't about that kind of an apology.

The kind of apology that is absolutely necessary is bearing witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter instructs us to, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." (1 Peter 3:15). Metzger asks and will offer an answer to the question, "what is the Good News and why is it so good?"

How do you define the Gospel? There is much discussion these days about what the Gospel is and how we should define it. Many seem to have an answer - from some emerging ideas, to the idea that love wins, to the old stalwart of the 4 Spiritual Laws, to justice and social engagement - there are more than a few ideas of what the Gospel is. It's been more than a decade since I was an Evangelism Explosion trainer teaching a scripted method of presenting the Gospel and leading someone into a decision. These are all propositional ideas that while they communicate our understanding of the gospel can still miss the cosmic expanse of the good news. Metzger responds:

If we are not careful, we can easily turn the good news into a position paper about the faith. While robust confessions of the faith are vital, the good news is much more than a statement of faith. It is a personal relationship with the living God, about whom we confess certain statements. The propositions about personal relationship with God have their place, as long as they don't replace the relationship with God to which we bear witness.

I would go further than Dr. Metzger on this point. I don't believe this idea of a personal relationship goes far enough in our understanding of the gospel and may present some culturally infused definitions about relationship that need consideration. In a culture of individualism and materialism we need to make sure that we are defining "relationship" right. In Chapter 1, Dr. Metzger warns against the "Market-Driven" approach but an appeal to a personal relationship with Jesus is usually at the center of this approach - "come to Jesus and have all your needs met." There are many different kinds of relationships so we need to define our terms. Dr. Metzger will use the Biblical metaphor of the Bride and Bridegroom, but even here we need to understand our definitions and they may be tainted by culture, especially when our definitions of marriage are under siege. I would argue that there is much more to the good news than access to a personal relationship.

Yes, the gospel is about the availability of a personal relationship with God. Yes, Jesus has made a way for you and I and everyone who believes to enter a personal relationship that reconnects us with the one true and living God. But the gospel is more than that. Jesus is more than the bridge providing a way to cross over the chasm that separates us from God. Jesus, all that he is, all he has done, all he is doing and all he will do is the very good news. Paul put it simply but profoundly - "Christ is all." (Col 3:11). Our personal relationship to Christ is one element, and a vital one, but we need to grasp the universality of the whole gospel in Christ. I blog about this more at my Living Sent Today blog. But I digress.

Metzger does point out that when we approach the good news from propositions about God, even the proposition I am purporting, we can counter two dangers.

The first is reducing personal relationship with God to a series of propositions, missing the forest (personal relationship with God) while looking at the trees (statements about God). The second is rejecting propositions about God in favor of personal relationship, failing to see that even talk about personal relationship with God involves certain propositional claims, such as there is a God, I am not this God, and God is personal...and wants to have a relationship with you and me.

I would argue that God wants more than a relationship. God wants our complete allegiance, our full trust and confidence, our very lives are to be "hidden" in his life (Col 3:3).That is more than a relationship, since the idea of a relationship is of give and take. God may accept what we give him of our lives, for he is gracious and merciful, but he desires to be everything to us, for us, through us. Our concept of a personal relationship with God is an incomplete apologetic when it is based on a Greek influenced dualism that divides our life from God's life in us. The Apostle Paul understood that in Christ we have "been crucified with Christ and (we) no longer live, but Christ lives in (us). The life (we) now live in the body, (we) live by faith in the Son of God, who loved (us) and gave himself for (all)." (Gal 2:20). That's more than a personal relationship. How does that which has been crucified have a personal relationship?

As a new creation, our new identity, once coming to Christ, is to be fully in Christ, or at least it should be. Paul reaches for this ultimate reality of our oneness relationship with Christ by using the marriage metaphor but concludes it is a "profound mystery" (Eph 5:32). Our dualistic thinking however has compartmentalized our spiritual life and material life into two distinct spheres which then gives rise to the idea of a personal relationship so entrenched in Evangelical thinking. Then we struggle even more with this mystery. It also gives permission, or so we think it does, to live our lives anyway we want, just like most married couples, as long as one of the components is to maintain this personal relationship. But Paul says, "You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God..." (1 Cor 6:19b-20) with your whole life.

Dr. Metzger does discuss this mystery of the good news quoting Calvin who said,"For my own part, I am overwhelmed by the depth of his mystery, and am not ashamed to join Paul in acknowledging at once my ignorance and my admiration." Calvin is giving us permission, as did Paul, to be satisfied with not having all the answers but knowing there is much we don't understand. Metzger adds, "I find myself repenting and apologizing for how I often fail to live into this vision of ultimate reality involving relational intimacy." Jesus himself adds to this mystery when he prays that all who believe would be one in him, with the Father, and together (John 17:20-23).

This is far more than identificational but is in fact our "ultimate reality" - as Paul understood, as Calvin acknowledged, as Metzger sees it. That reality is where "Christ is all," our everything, which is more than propositional but very much our daily lives, even if not lived out perfectly on this side of eternity. As Christ lives out his life in us and through us, incarnate, we move into this ultimate reality - unshakeable, unstoppable, unswerving. At the end of the 2nd Chapter, Metzger is moving beyond the simple understanding of a personal relationship and into the profound mystery of the good news. He says,

"I am banking everything on Jesus becoming flesh, becoming one flesh, with his people...This book is an apology for the enfleshed Word of the triune God and all that his incarnate life entails for the world and various relationships. As such it is an apology not only for the incarnate God but for humanity and creation as a whole. This holistic reality to which I point entails holistic witness. Just as the Word became flesh to love this world we must be enfleshed through words and deeds of love."

Our apology is not simply ideas about Jesus but the incarnate life of Jesus lived out in us. One proposition toward this end is what my friend David Bryant calls a consequential Christology - which can be boiled down to this - all that matters is Jesus since Christ is all. Then all that we do must reflect Jesus since Christ is all. Here's video of David discussing his apology:

Connecting Christ - What is Relational-Incarnational Apologetics?

I have been trying to decide how to approach this blog for Connecting Christ, I'm thinking twice a week blog posts - a Tuesday and Friday rhythm, Lord willing. Obviously there is much more in a book than can be covered in a single blog post, which is why I recommend you get yourself a copy. So...I will focus on the key concept of each chapter, add some thoughts of my own, perhaps tie in a relevant news story and ask some conversation starters.  Comments are welcome, either here on the blog or Facebook. 

To frame his thesis in Chapter 1 Professor Metzger is answering a rhetorical question - what is Relational-Incarnational Apologetics? Perhaps we can ask the Professor another question, "what difference does it make?" - to borrow a phrase. Professor Metzger however anticipated that questions well as he contrasts his ideas about Relational-Incarnational with two popular apologetic approaches he names as "Worldview approach" and a "Market-Driven approach."

The Worldview approach, is based on good arguments and the dismantling of the argument of other worldviews. Think of the formalistic apologetic that points out all the flaws in a world religion, in postmodernism or a theologically liberal position. Professor Metzger defines the Market-Driven  approach as more mechanistic, even manipulative, since it spins the gospel to appeal to what seekers want to hear so as to win them over as "fickle consumers of religious products" and thereby misses the whole gospel (I have blogged in my Living Sent Today blog about the whole Gospel). Metzger makes the point here that...

"these one-sided  strategies that reduce God to cold logic or propaganda, but a relational and incarnational approach to apologetics frames the discussion around God's great love, which causes him to give himself to us wholly and sacrificially in Jesus." 

And, isn't that really the point of the gospel, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Clearly, however the contending two apologetic methods frequently miss the depth of this all too familiar verse, which is Metzger's point in Chapter 1. Why is that we so often miss God's immeasurable, unfathomable and matchless love for every person, incarnated in Christ and is suppoed to be lived out through Christ's followers? 

Rather we, the Church corporate and in particular Evangelicals, are known to approach our "target audience" with a mild antagonism (see UnChristian by David Kinnaman), at best, or offer a consumer-based religion that "never sticks to the soul."  The first doesn't address the needs of the individual but is simply an intellectual exercise that is often thoughtless and causes offensive. The second leaves the large majority of those who claim to be Christian adherents without a transformative experience of the Good News or lacking a transformational knowledge of who they are in Christ. Which leads us to why Professor Metzger is proposing this third way.  

It unfortunate that we don't need to look far to find examples of the Worldview apologetic approach gone awry. Just this week, Pat Robertson was at it again. Robertson said of Islam. "It's a religion of chaos... of angry people,...almost like it’s demonic that is driving them to kill and to maim and to destroy." While there is a radicalized element within Islam, painting with such a broad stereotyping brush is not going to foster relationships or be successful in connecting Muslims to Christ. Would someone please give Pat a copy of "How to Win Friends and Influence People" before he causes more damage! Pat also insists, Islam is "an economic and political system with a religious veneer." Well, Pat that is largely true of American Christianity as well but our cultural myopia doesn't allow us to see that clearly. However, both Christianity and Islam, as well as other world religions, should be respected by others if for no other reason than it is Scriptural.

Ask yourself if we are getting the results we desire from the Worldview or Market Driven approaches? Does examples like Pat Robertson help or hurt the cause of Christ by demeaning Islam? Then think here of the common definition of insanity - keep doing the same thing and expect different results. We need to appraise what results we are getting for the cause of connecting Christ with people who are dying. And, we need to evaluate those results against what we would hope for. If what we're getting isn't working, isn't it time we change our apologetic? We do have a purpose to live out, something the Professor gets to in Chapter 2 - to know Christ and make him know. Metzger is arguing we need a better way to get there and I couldn't agree more.

Professor Metzger begins to articulates his definition of the Relational-Incarnational approach when he says: 

"In contrast, a relational and incarnational model of apologetics goes beyond discussion of God's good ideas and away from a great marketing strategy to sharing in the life of a holy, loving God who gives himself to us sacrifically. Relational-incarnational apologetics does include rational discussion of God's great ideas and pays careful attention to context so the truth is communicated meaningfully to others of different faiths. But it goes beyond syllogism and targeting a particular demographic and it goes beyond soft-sell." 

In Connecting Christ, Professor Metzger is arguing for a robust Biblical apologetic based on the importance of relationships first, the "love your neighbor" mandate Jesus gave us, along with an incarnational life that finds expression in the meekness (not a word Metzger uses in this chapter but one that needs to be revitalized) of Christ. But as he points out that doesn't mean "soft-sell," as meekness doesn't equate to weakness. Rather with confidence in who we are in Christ we share Biblical truth in love. It should be in such fashion that we share the gospel with a diaspora friend. Can we make it a lifestyle as a Christ-follower?

It is a lifestyle I am still learning, as it relates to crossing cultures necessary for diaspora mission, not one I'm practicing well presently - but God is at work. Metzger too confesses in chapter 1, its often easier to teach these principles then live them out. But as he says, "I know I am not alone in this social indifference." But that is a very good reason to pray, "Lord, give me your heart for others, so that I can love relationally and incarnationally like you do."  

Q - What apologetic method have you used? How successful has it been?

Q - What challenges do you see with the Relational-Incarnational apologetic?

Connecting Christ & Culture - Introduction

This is the first in a series of posts based on the book "Connecting Christ - How to Discuss Jesus in a World of Diverse Paths" by Dr. Paul Louis Metzger. Dr. Metzger is professor of Christian theology and theology of culture at Multnomah Biblical Seminarym Multnomah University. Dr. Metzger is also the founder and director of the seminary's Institute for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins.

In Connecting Christ, Dr. Metzger calls us to "remove ourselves as the stumbling block to salvation for others and embrace a way to proclaim the uncommon compassionate God revealed in Jesus Christ - the Savior the world is dying to know."  Now isn't that an idea worthy of much discussion? How has the Church, and in particular Evangelical Christians, been a stumbling block to people of other cultures who are now our neighbors? Certainly, we could enumerate a number of ways from our  ecclesiology, how we do church, to our eschatology, how we may believe current events are being played out for the "End-Times."

The question Metzger calls us to consider is this: does what we believe keep others, who equally believe in their path, from coming to Christ? Another question could be: what is more important - protecting what we think is right or being faithful witnesses for Christ in our rapidly changing and increaisngly multi-faith culture? Does our need to be right, orthodoxy, keep others from Christ? Discussing those questions is Metzgers intent in Connecting Christ. One of the intents of Ethnic Embrace USA, in addition to providing resources that introduce the myriad of people groups who now call the USA home, is to help serve that conversation.

How do we change the conversation that is all too prevalent,at least in some camps, from an often antagonistic and too frequently harmful, even unintentionally, American Evangelical posture to a true Kingdom posture that truly reflects the love of God for all peoples? If we call ourselves Christ-followers, as his Ambassadors, we need to do our best to reflect Christ to our culture, representing our Lord's interest before our own. That is the role of an Ambassador. But the experience of many people who come to the U.S. from aboard is anything but that, as prejudice, bias, and even xenophobia marks and mars how Christians are seen by our diaspora neighbors. Jesus says in Luke's version of the Sermon on the Mount, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?" (Luke 6:46). Ouch!

We have to change our witness to do a better job of showing Christ to our "world of diverse paths." We can fight against this reality as many American Christians do, at least to some extent, desiring the America we grew up with (assuming you are a Baby-Boomer or Gen-X). Or we can embrace our new reality for the opportunity God presents to us in bringing the nations to our shores. To answer that challenging question we need to ask ourselves simply this: "who is first?" If our heart-felt and honest answer is "our Lord Jesus Christ!" then we need to live in such a way as to make that known to our diaspora people, as well as  all who don't know Christ, among us. 

Connecting Christ encourages believes to be not only better communicators and witness but also better listeners. The later, listening or the lack thereof, is a common malady of American Christians, as we often think we have the right answers (think "When Helping Hurts" here), based on our wealth, our knowledge, other technological capacities and yes even our doctrine. But if we don't become better listeners we won't be effective in our witnessing to people who have a different worldview and traditions. If we are to embrace the nations among us we should give heed to James admonition when he says, "My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry." (James 1:19). That way, we will be able to defend against today's "negative connotations and ineffective approaches associated with Christian evangelism."

We need a better approach for our embracing efforts and Connecting Christ, "reveals that there is a way of evangelizing that is neither disengaging monologue nor silent, lifestyle ministry, but is, instead, an approach for evangelism to go hand-in-hand." Metzger begins his Introduction with these words - "All people long in one way or another to connect with Christ." If that is true, then we should put no stumbling block before them as the seek to connect with Christ but rather seek to live in such a way to make it clear Jesus is Lord of all. That is after all our assignment as his witnesses - that they too may know Christ and him crucified.

Connecting Christ is divided into four Parts with 26 Chapters.We'll look at a chapter per post but be in no hurry to complete the work since connecting Christ and our changing culture is a long term assignment. Part 1 is entitled "A Relational Incarnation Approach" and Metzger answers for us in Chapter 1 - "What is Relational-Incarnational Apologetics?" I hope you will join us on this journey of Connecting Christ and culture. I think we'll learn a lot from Dr. Metzger that will be meaningful toward blessing the nations among us. I hope we can use this as an opportunity to develop good dialogue as workers in diaspora mission. Please invite others to join us. Chapter 1 starts Friday, February 15th.

I would, of course, recommend you order "Connecting Christ." You can order online here.